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STANFORD INTERNATIONAL PRO-AM

April 23, 2008

Suzann Pettersen

AVENTURA, FLORIDA

ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Suzann, thanks for coming in today. You're off to a great, great season so far. You had your tie for second place at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, and you followed that up last week with a third-place finish at the Ginn Open. Talk about your play in the recent weeks and how it's coming together.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I don't know. I'm just grinding and grinding and it's starting to pay off. Usually takes time for me to warm up, but I like to play my way into form and compete week in and week out.
So now I finally feel like I have rhythm to my game and a bit more structure on how I prepare myself during the tournament weeks. When Thursday comes you usually feel pretty prepared. It's been a nice couple weeks. Just keep going.

Q. This week we've got a very unique event, a Pro-Am. Three days of playing with Mike Schmidt. Have you met him already?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I did meet him on the putting green. I'm very excited to play with him, though I'm not that into baseball. He was a bit before my time. But I've heard a lot about him and I'm looking forward to get to know him.
Apparently he's a quite decent player. Ivan Lendl is playing with Nicole Castrale, so I think we'll have a great group.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: You definitely have a great foursome. A lot of people are already talking about watching you and Mike, quote, unquote, bomb the ball out there. There's some interest in your pairing.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Oh-oh.
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Questions for Suzann.

Q. First one is who's longer off the tee, you or Mike?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I've never played with him, so, I mean, I'll just stick to my game plan. It's going to be an interesting week. Usually when you play a Pro-Am you have your Pro-Am face, and then when Thursday comes you have your game face on.
Now it's kind of -- I mean, you got to stick to your own game plan and play your own game. At the same time, try to keep everyone happy. It will be a different challenge, but I think both Ivan Lendl and Mike Schmidt have been great athletes themselves. They know what this is all about, and for us it's to get the job done.
They're all out there to enjoy themselves and try to be good asset to the group. So I think we really lucky with our group.

Q. Second thing is you touched on it. You're somewhat of an intense player when you're out there. Will you try to make any adjustments, or not adjustments, but will it be any different this week for you this type of format than if you were playing strictly for yourself all week?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: For me this is all about being in position on every hole. Depending on the wind, but this course is fairly short, so I mean, it's just like you don't have to bomb the driver every hole.
It's more like to hit 240 off the tee, which is like a 3-wood or even less. And the Par 5s are kind of tricky. Not even like a risk/reward, because I mean, the driving area gets quite tight, and then there's hardly any room to miss like if you hit a long approach.
On the Par 5s, especially on the -- not the Miller but the other course it's usually a 3-shoter. You're going to have a lot of the short irons like I talked about. You got to be patient. The wind is going to be there, so you got to hit those shots you commit to and you will get your chances. The greens are very undulated.

Q. Do you know yet how many drivers you'll hit in a round?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Today I played the -- what do you call it?
ASHLEY CUSHMAN: Soffer.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Soffer. Probably hit like five drives. And, I mean, you even hit 3-woods off Par 5s just because there's no point taking on the risk of getting out of the fairway on the drive when you're not even going to get to the green in two.
So, I mean, you just kind of play the course whatever it gives you. It all depends what the wind does.

Q. You'd like to hit your driver every time, wouldn't you because of the advantage?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I don't know who kind of quoted that I would love the driver. I mean, I just try to play the courses how they set up for us. Play it how it actually sets up for my game.
Last week I hit pretty much driver on every hole, and this week it's just different. This week it's more position and a little shorter, so, of course the longer hitters are not going to hit as many drives.

Q. Have you ever played a Pro-Am format where it counted, or is this the first time?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: This will probably be the first time we have a scorecard in our hand and kind of my score -- I mean, you got to think that it will be -- I don't think it will be that hard. I mean, playing with these guys, they play their own ball and game and we play our game. Just try to have some fun in between the shots.
When Sunday comes, I mean, it's all done to -- pretty much the money. You got to -- it's a regular week, it's just a different format the first couple of days.

Q. I'm sure you guys get asked this every week. But Lorena on her run like this, is it dispiriting competing against her? How do you view what she's doing right now?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, we got a chance this week. No, I don't know. I mean, you want to play every week against the best players. Lorena is definitely the hottest player out on tour and in the world at the moment. She's a pretty hard worker and she puts a lot of time and effort into her game.
But at the same time, I mean, you play four solid rounds and you can win tournaments. But, I mean, you're not allowed to have any lousy days out there. I mean, last week I finished third. I don't know what I ended up with, six, seven shots behind.
I shot level par on Saturday and she shot 7 under. So I kind of lost the tournament Saturday having a lousy day. So, I mean, you need four solid rounds, and then you can kind of give it a go.
But it definitely brings the best out of the ones trying to come and chase her. Try to grind and work even harder.

Q. You've met Mike, right?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yes.

Q. Did ya'll play together?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I have not played with him. He came up and introduced himself while I was practicing. He didn't want to interrupt, so we just talked briefly. He was looking forward to playing tomorrow.

Q. So you think it'll help, the fact that he's an athlete?
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I mean, he knows what it's all about. Same with Ivan Lendl. They've been there themselves, so, yeah. I don't know what more to say really.

Q. With a year like you had last year - and I noticed you changed equipment, all your equipment and caddie - has it been hard to continue? You seem to not even miss a beat.
SUZANN PETTERSEN: I mean, I would never -- I mean, first of all with the clubs, I don't think I would ever change if I didn't know it was going to be for the better.
I mean, I got that question a few times: Why would you change when you had just a great year? Because I think Nike can get me to the next level.
And caddie-wise, I felt like I had a great year with James. We learned a lot. But at the same time, my game has improved and it feels like I need more support and a little bit more experience on the bag.
Around Greg I feel very comfortable. I know he's always prepared. If I was to pop a question he will always be there. So I was just looking for a little bit more mature and a little bit more experienced guy on the bag.
I don't think I could have got any better than Greg. Every little puzzle is kind of coming together. Just try to play some good golf.

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